Market watch: KSE-100 ends positive for 11th successive session

Benchmark index gains 364.44 points, but falls short of 42,000 level

KARACHI: The stock market continued to inch upwards, ending positive for the 11^th successive session on Thursday, to close near the 42,000-point barrier.

Political calm and bullish sentiment in various sectors led investors to continue pouring money after the KSE-100 Index had regressed near the 38,000 level last month.

At close on Thursday, the KSE-100 Index ended with a gain of 364.44 points or 0.88% to finish at 41,908.71.

Profit-taking and resistance near the 42,000 level meant the index was unable to move past 41,995.66 - its intra-day high.

Stocks opened positive and carried on with their positive momentum with auto, cement, fertiliser and banking sectors hogging the limelight. Oil and gas marketing companies closed negative on disappointing numbers of furnace oil production for December.

Elixir Securities' analyst Ali Raza said Pakistan equities surged again on Thursday on the back of institutional buying in key sectors that led to Benchmark KSE-100 Index settling higher over 41,900 mark.



Market opened positive as oils led early gains following overnight rise in global crude after US reported larger than expected drop in stock piles.

KSE-100 Index later steadily increased with financials jumping in to support the momentum; United Bank Limited UBL PA +4.3% and Habib Bank Limited HBL PA +2.1% led gains on reported foreign interest.

Cements too supported the rising thrust on value buying with Fauji Cement FCCL PA +3%, Maple Leaf Cement MLCF PA +3% and Lucky Cement LUCK PA +2.8% seeing most interest and leading gains.

Meanwhile, K-Electric KEL PA +3% remained the volumes leader on expectations of a favourable resolution of tariff overhang.

“We expect near-term consolidation as the benchmark KSE-100 Index has approached the 42,000 psychological barrier,” he added.

JS Global analyst Mubashir Naviwala said that bears were defeated in today's trading despite tension on the political front.

Market opened positive and touched a high of +451 points as institutional participation was witnessed mainly in the main board stocks. Market remained positive throughout the day and closed at 41,909 points.

KEL (+2.96%) remained the volume leader today as well on the back of expectations regarding development in multiyear tariff which will likely lead to Shanghai Electric deal closing in the near future.

PTC (+4.73%) performed on market rumours regarding Etisalat team in talks for the $800 million outstanding payment. Approval of increase in MRPs of drugs under Drug Pricing Policy-2015 played well for the pharmaceutical sector where SAPL (+5%), IBLHL (+4.61%), SEARL (+5%) and WYETH (+5%) all closed at or near their respective upper circuits.

The fertiliser sector also witnessed investor interest where ENGRO (+1.19%) and FFC (+1.43%) closed higher than their previous day’s close. In the steel sector MUGHAL (+3.24%) remained in the limelight on the back of material information released by the company where they mentioned extension of grid station load from 19.99MW to 59.99MW, which is expected to be fully operational by the 3^rd quarter of 2018.



The oil and gas exploration and production sector continued its upward trend as crude oil prices continued to edge higher in the international market. POL (+0.25%) and OGDC (+1.15%) were the major gainers of the mentioned sector.

Moving forward we maintain our buy stance and recommend investors to buy oil, cement and steel stocks on dips.

Overall, trading volume decreased to 222.35 million shares on Thursday, compared with Wednesday’s tally of 233 million.

At the end of the day, 200 stocks closed higher, 142 declined while 22 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.6 billion.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 34.06 million shares changing hands, followed by Pakistan Telecommunication Company (11.35 million), and Engro Polymer (10.16 million).

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs897 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.